1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bag holding arrangement, and more particularly, to a holding arrangement which facilitates the loading of products, such as groceries or general merchandise, into upwardly opening bags incorporating handle loops spaced about the mouth of the bag.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A traditional and long-accepted method for packaging merchandise, such as groceries at the check-out counters of grocery stores, has involved the loading of individual paper bags, a process which is quite frequently inefficient, time-consuming and expensive. The person implementing the bagging retrieves a bag from a stack, often from below a counter, normally opens it by a quick motion of the arm causing air to catch in the bag and distend it, and then positions the bag upright on the counter. In the case of double bagging operations, a second bag must be opened in the same manner and then inserted inside the first bag to provide extra strength. The merchandise, e.g., groceries, is then placed into tee open bag and the filled bags are slid across the counter so that the customers can put their arms around the middle of the bags and carry them out. Often, moisture absorption from the products contained within the heavily ladened bags will weaken the bottoms thereof, tending to cause them to separate or tear.
The general concept of packaging items in plastic bags is well known. However, thin plastic bags are very limp in nature and this characteristic not only adversely affects the loading operation, but any attempt to carry such a bag, loaded with groceries, by grasping the mid-portion thereof proves to be very awkward because of the limp film's tendency to allow the upper portion of the bag to fold over, usually with disastrous consequences.
Recent attempts to remedy these deficiencies of plastic bags have included the provision on the bag of handles adjacent to the mouth of the bag. This has helped to alleviate the carrying problem, but the loading operation raises a problem because of the difficulties attendants have in loading a limp plastic bag which is not self-supporting. Elaborate devices have been used to open and support the empty bags, such as blowers which fill the bag with air and vacuum systems which hold the walls of the bag apart and upright, but these can be expensive, require substantial redesign and modification of check-out counters and are subject to mechanical breakdown during heavy use. Although semi-rigid plastic films, such as vinyl, high density polyethylene and high modulus laminary structures formed therefrom, are available and could be used to construct bags which are self-supporting, the cost of such material is far beyond the relative costs of paper packaging materials and therefore, although a potential solution, is one which is economically unattractive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,170, which is assigned to the common assignee for the present invention, provides an effective holder for loading plastic bags having handle loops. In this patent, a user removes the topmost bag from a stack of bags supported at the rear of the holder, places each of the handle loops of the bag on a respective one of spaced arm portion tabs, loads the bag, and removes the loaded bag from the holder by lifting the handle loops from the tabs.
Wire rack versions of the holder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,170 have been commercialized. These wire racks generally had the wire components welded together. Such wire racks were subject to failure at weld points where twisting or rocking forces were encountered due to flexing of the rack under stress during the loading of bags supported thereon.
However, more recently issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,388, which is also assigned to the common assignee of the present invention, discloses an improved holder for plastic bags which facilitates the loading thereof with product, and which is constituted of a rigid, high-strength wire construction which extensively overcomes the problems encountered with other prior art wire rack bag holders.
Both of the above-mentioned patents, although obviating many of the drawbacks encountered in prior art plastic bag holding and loading structures, are primarily designed to function in conjunction with bags of one predetermined size. In essence, most plastic bags currently utilized in the bagging of groceries in supermarkets are of the so-called 1/6 BBL. (equivalent) size; possessing overall lay flat dimensions of about 12in..times.8in..times.231/4in. Consequently, the height of any bag mounting tabs in the bag holding arrangements above any lower support plate or surface must be dimensioned so as to allow the bottom of the opened bag to rest thereon during loading, in order to reduce the possibility of any heavy or sharp-edged objects being placed into the bag puncturing and tearing through the bottom of the bag rendering the latter unusable.
However, quite frequently, customers shopping in groceries or supermarkets only purchase a few items, which are usually bagged at so-called "Express" checkout counters, and which could be economically loaded into smaller-sized plastic bags; for instance, of 1/8BBL. or 1/7 BBL. (equivalent) capacities. Such smaller plastic bags which are, respectively, 5 in. and 23/4in. shorter in. length than the 1/6 BBL. plastic bags, require considerably less material in their manufacture, so as to render them much more economical in use. Inasmuch as these smaller-sized bags are shorter, in order afford them a bottom support during loading, the distance between the tabs and the lower supporting surface must, of necessity, be shorter than that for the support of the 1/6 BBL. plastic bags in the current holding arrangements.